The owners of Salem-based bike shop, Santiam Bicycle, are set to open a new store off SW Hall Blvd in Tigard near the Washington Square Mall (about 10 miles southwest of downtown Portland). The large, high-profile store (it’s in the same shopping center as Target) will not only be a great place to shop for bikes and gear, it could also help spur visibility of bicycling in Washington County.

To learn more about the new store, I sent a few questions to Santiam Bicycle President Troy Munsell…

Troy Munsell(Photo: Breakfast on Bikes)

Why are you opening a second store in Tigard?

We are opening a new store because we want to bring the Santiam experience to a broader group of people. We try very hard to identify a rider’s need and advise them what will best serve that need rather than just merely trying to “Make the Sale”. We asked our reps what area was under served as far as having a bicycle shop. All the reps said that both Beaverton and Tigard needed another good shop. We looked around and liked this location best.

Where is the new shop located?

The address is 9009 SW Hall Blvd in Tigard (map). It is just North of Washington Square Mall and is in the same shopping center as Target. That’s just a few miles southeast of some of the best road riding in the Portland/Beaverton/Tigard area, and there are also two skate parks within 4 miles of us.

Any specific focus for the shop or is it a general service store with all types of bikes/products?

Santiam is a full service shop. We want to help people who want to ride bikes, whatever kind of bikes they prefer. We want to help people who already love to ride and those who want to become riders. We will carry lots of Commuter Bikes, gear, and clothes. We will stock Road and Touring Bikes. We will have Cross Country Mountain and Freeride Bikes. We are very well known for BMX and work very hard to be sure we have a great selection of parts, frames and complete bikes. We are also well known for our work in the Mountain Bike and Freeride community because of our efforts in the creation of Black Rock trails outside of Falls City Oregon.

How would you describe Santiam Cycles (in terms of the culture of the store, people that work there, and so on) for folks in the Tigard area who aren’t familiar with it?

Santiam is an owner/operator bike shop. We strive to be friendly and helpful rather than elitist or aloof. Our service focuses on advising and educating the customer so they can make the best decision for themselves and have the best cycling experience tailored to their needs. Santiam has always been a rider based store. We hire only people who are bike riders so that their advice is always based on experience. We screen for staff that are friendly, service oriented and hopefully have a strong desire to convert all people to bicycle riders. (Bicycles can save the world you know!) Santiam focuses on community involvement that either helps the rider enjoy riding more or creates new riders. For example we helped sponsor a high-school team led by one of their teachers. We have helped several Pro BMXers gain the contracts with the companies they ride for now. We spearheaded fundraising and trail building for Black Rock. We support the Salem chapter of BTA by providing free basic maintenance on the bikes of the participants who stop by for the Breakfast on Bikes events.

We offer beginner mountain bike rides to help introduce riders to trail riding in a supportive and fun environment. Most of our community involvement has been hands-on rather than financial. We want to help bike enthusiasts achieve their goals, not to pay them to go away.

Will you be hiring any new staff for the new store?

We have hired two people from the Portland/Tigard area already. For now, we plan on having the owners and the Salem staff working as much as possible in the new store to make sure we bring the Santiam experience to Tigard. We want to make sure we infuse the new store with the right atmosphere. If Tigard has need of us and keeps us busy, I’m sure we’ll need to hire more bike-crazed people for our team.

What are the specifics of the new shop in terms of square feet and when it’s slated to open?

It’s Huge! 10,000 sq ft. About 6,000 of that will be merchandised floor space and the rest going to repair area and storage of all the sexy bikes and gear we want to keep on hand. As to the opening date, well, we are hoping around the first of April, but we still have a ton of stuff to do. We have been busting our guts out trying to make it a great place to visit. We are on the cusp of spring and are excited that we can open right at the beginning of the new season, but we want it to be the coolest shop in Oregon. We want to do it right so when people come in they have a great experience and think ‘Wow! I just found my new bike shop.’

Welcome to the area Troy! Keep us posted on the store’s progress and good luck getting all settled in.

I hope they do well, and I really do look forward to visiting their new store. That said, am I alone in finding it depressing that so many bike stores in suburbia end up in some sort of mega-mall location, surrounded by giant parking lots filled with cars and SUV’s? There’s a whole lot of progress to be made in that neck-of-the-woods, and I wish them all the best in at least this incremental step forward.

I’ve always had a good experience whenever I stopped at their Salem store. I’m looking forward to having a quality bike shop in Tigard. The only downside to their location is its on a busy street (Hall) and the only connectors are busy streets (Scholls Ferry and Greenburg). Other than that they will be located within 1 mile of the fanno creek/greenway trail which gets lots of use.

Wow. Perfect location for me right along my commute route. As for the issue with being located in a strip mall, unfortunately there aren’t a whole lot of options. These areas were developed post-streetcar era (20s, 30s, etc.) and so the retail isn’t set up like it is on Hawthorne, Woodstock, etc. This will be easier to access by bike than the Beaverton Bike Gallery or even the new Sunset Cylces location on Barrows/Scholls Ferry.

I’m excited to have this bike shop so close to my home! Hall is definitely a busy street, but at least it has bike lanes and is fairly easy to ride. Greenburg isn’t, and Scholls gets a little hairy. I’ll definitely be shopping here and bringing my bikes for service.

One comment to the owners: Make sure the people you hire are encouraging to women. It sucks to walk into a bike shop and be ignored in favor of my boyfriend, or patronized if I’m alone. I’ve got disposable income, help me spend it by welcoming and encouraging me! The more confident I feel, the more I’m likely to spend and the more I’m spreading the word to my co-workers, friends and family about what a great shop you are.